Paper fastener



0a. 9, 1951 s, LYNCH 2,571,044

PAPER FASTENER Filed Feb. 10, 1949 (Va/cries 5 lz nclv- Patented Oct. 9,1 951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PAP-ER FASTENER GlarenceStillLynch,New HydePark, N. Y. Appfication February 10, 1949, Serial No. 75,601 4Claims-z (01. 24153) The present invention provides a paper fastener ofthe type adapted toconveniently secure or-bind a stack of papers,and-.more particularly is'concerned with a paper file fastener whereina. substantially U-shaped fastener including a base bar has its prongsor arms first threaded through the sheets of said stack and then throughthe aligned spaced slots ina retaining member or compressor, after whichthe prongs are folded down against the compressor and appropriatelylocked by suitable means cooperating with the compressor for securelyholding the intervening stack between the base of the fastener and thecompressor.

In practice, it has been customary to pile one sheet of paper uponanother to form an intervening stack to be bound. However, the height ofthe stack is limited by the length of the foldable prongs. Duringappreciable accretions to the stack, the papers or records to be boundor fastened, often exceed the capacity of the prongs, and the user isleft with the alternative of either starting a new file by utilizinganother fastener to. secure the accretions, or removing thefastener fromthe stack and substituting another fastener therefor having prongs of alength much longer than the length of; the prongs of the fasteneroriginally employed. In practice, these alternativemethods have. provedunsatisfactory. In the first case, one set of records becomes dividedand isbound in several units or stacks. In the second case, extra timeand labor are needed to substitute a new fastener having longer prongs.

Accordingly, one ofthe principalobjects of the present invention is toeliminate the foregoing objections by providing fasteners of the aboveindicated type wherein an assembly maybe built up by interlocking theprongs of one fastener with the base bar of the next fastener, whichdefines the retaining or compressor bar for the accumulated stack ofpapers, there being thus provided an additional length of prongs servingas retaining means for additional accretions to the stack.

A further object. of the invention. is to provide a construction offasteners ofthe above indicated type which eliminates the need forremoving one fastener and replacing it with one with longer prongs, andalso eliminates the inconvenienceof "a, previously suggested fastenerconstruction having prongs which. may be extendedby mounting additionalsections on the prongsfor lengthening the capacity thereof, sucharrangement beingawkward'andincreasing materially the-cost of thefasteners.

A further object of the invention is to, provide a, novel form ofvinterlockable fastener which does not depart greatly from; the usualtype, and therefore eliminates increased cost while. enablingthecapacity of the fastener assembly to. be increased readily anydesiredplurality of times and to any desired extent.

A still further object. of the invention is to provide means whereby thecapacity of the file fastener may be increased at any time withoutdisturbing or removing any of the sheets then held by the fastener.

Another important object of this invention is the provision of-astrap-like paper fastener including a prongedbaseplate or bar sovdesigned as to successively and interlockingly bind togethersuperimposed units of paper and to eliminateithe necessity of usingseparate binding plates or bars, except with respect to thetopmost.,unit,,the base plate constituting a combined base plate andbinding or compression plate.

Further objects,- ofthe invention will become apparent as thedescription proceeds, and the features of novelty will be pointed out inparticularity in the appended claims.

The invention will be understood more readily from reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an improved file fastener embodying the.features of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a binding plate or-bar for thefastener of Fig.1.

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the fastenerof Fig. l, the view beingtaken on the line 34-3. of Fig.1, looking in-the-direction of thearrows.

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional elevationof the fastener taken on theline 4- 1 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation showing an interlocked assembly oftheimproved. fastener of the invention, showing the manner ,of,interlocking the fasteners for increasingthe. capacity thereof.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of thebinding plate of Fig. 5 in binding position.

Fig. 7" is anenlarged detailedfragmentary side elevation of; one end ofthe fastener.

Fig.8 isa fragmentary bottom view of Fig. 7, taken on: the line 3+4}:thereof.

Referring moreparticularly to the drawings, the improved file fastener.of thepresent invention is composedof standard unitsor partswhich can bemade on oneproduction. machine-or die, namely, thefastenermember A andthe, binding or compressi n p e- B. he fastener member A comprises abase plate or bar I provided with the longitudinally extending sidemembers 2 and 3, forming a top groove 4 and bottom grooves 5. The bar Iis similarly off-set at adjacent end portions, as indicated at 6 and I,to form stops for preventing accidental disengagement of the securingslide members 8 and 9 from the base bar I. The ends of the base bar areformed with flexible loop portions Ill, II, that are integrally extendedinto prongs I2, I3, that are adapted to enter perforations I4, I5 in astock or unit b of papers It in the usual manner for holding theindividual papers of the stack. Adjacent to each prong and in theoff-set end portions 6 and I, the base bar I is provided with aperturesI'I, I8, which are adapted to receive the prongs I2 and I3 of a similarfastener which are threadable therethrough, as and for a purposedirectly more fully appearing.

The binding plate B (Fig. 2) is provided with the longitudinallyextending side members 2a and 3a, a top groove 4a and bottom grooves 5a,the prong receiving apertures I'Ia and I8a, and the slide members 8a and9a, similar to the corresponding parts of base plate I of fastener A.

When the capacity of one pair of prongs I2 and I3 of a fastener A isfilled, a second fastener A is placed on top of the stack b of thepapers IS, the base plate or bar I thereof forming a binding member orcompressor bar for said stack 17, the free ends of the prongs I2 and I3of the filled fastener A extending through apertures I! and I8 of thesuperimposed second base bar I and are bent over into groove 4 andretained therein by the slides 8 and 9. The capacity of the secondfastener A constitutes the second stack or unit c, and on which isplaced over the free ends of the prongs I2 and I3 of the second fastenerA, the base bar I of a third fastener A, with the protruding ends ofsaid prongs bent over and secured by members 8 and 9 of the thirdfastener A. The filled third fastener A constitutes the topmost stack orunit at and on which is placed the binding or compressor plate or bar Bwith the free ends of the filled prongs extending through openings Naand I8a, bent over into groove 4a and secured by the slide members 8aand 9a (Figs. 5 and 6) and which completes the unitary binding of thestacks or units 1), c, and d, of the assembly shown in Fig. 5.

It will be seen, therefore, that in effecting a unitary binding of thestack capacity of a plurality of fasteners, that each fastener is aonepiece unit, the usual separate locking and compressor bar beingeliminated by the combined base and binding bar members of therespective fasteners A, with the exception of the topmost stack, wherethe separate compressor bar B is used.

While from the above description it is apparent that the use of thebinding plate or bar B is only necessary in binding a file where it doesnot exceed the capacity of a single fastener A for stack 1), or thetopmost stack d of a plurality of stacks when bound into a unitarystructure by the interlocking of the component fasteners A. It will befurther apparent, that if desired, the use of the binding plate or bar Bmay be completely eliminated by substituting therefor the base plate Iof a fastener A placed on the topmost stack similar to stack b with theprotruding ends of the prongs I2 and I3 extending through openings I1and I8 and bent into groove 4, except before securing by slide members 8and 9, bend the upstanding prongs into superimposed relation withrespect to the already bent over prong ends, and then position slidemembers 8 and 9 thereover. In this case it would only be necessary tomanufacture the strap-like fasteners A, thereby effecting a saving inmaterial and cost of manufacturing the separate binding strips or platesB. It would also save the trouble of handling the separate plates B andlooking for them when wanted, apart from the fasteners.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the illustrated embodimentof the improved fastener is a simple device, which is readilyinterlocked one with another to increase the effective capacity thereofas many times as may be desired. It will be apparent also that theillustrated details of the construction may be varied without departingfrom the inventive concept. Thus, the off-set end portions may beomitted and the base bar made straight throughout its entire length fromone end to the other; also the base bar may be grooved only on the topside thereof, that is, the side from which the prongs extend. The loopedend construction also may be omitted, but is preferred for addedflexibility of the prongs. However, in view of the foregoing, it will beunderstood that it is intended and desired to embrace within the scopeof the invention such modifications and changes as may be necessary toadapt it to varying conditions and uses, as defined by the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:

1. A paper fastener adapted to secure together a stack of papers, whichcomprises a base bar adapted to be engaged by the stack of papers to befastened, projecting prong members extending from the base bar adjacentto the ends thereof, the said prongs being bent backwardly against thebase bar to extend along the base bar to a position of reversedcurvature, the said prongs then extending substantially parallel to eachother, the base bar being provided with apertures adjacent to the prongmembers adapted to receive identical prong members of another identicalfastener, the said apertures being positioned sufficiently close to theprong members so that both the first-mentioned prong members and theidentical prong members register with, and pass through, the sameregistering punchings in a stack of sheets of paper, and locking meansmounted on the base bar adapted to look the said similar prong memberswhen they are inserted in the said apertures and bent in paperlockingposition against the base bar for locking the said similar prong membersin their bent paper-locking position against the base bar, the saidapertures in the base bar adjacent to the prong members enabling aplurality of similar fasteners to be assembled sequentially one onanother for building up a stack of sequentially interlocking fastenerscorresponding to increases in accretions of a stack of papers secured bythe re- :ulting stack of sequentially interlocking fasers.

2. A paper fastener adapted to secure together a stack of papers, whichcomprises a base bar adapted to be engaged by the stack of papers to befastened, the base bar having a flexible loop portion off-set from thebase bar at each end of the base bar, the said loop portions being bentbackwardly against the base bar to extend along the base bar to aposition of reversed curvature, the said loop members then beingextended into paper-receiving prong members, the base bar being providedwith apertures adjacent to the end loop portions adapted to receiveidentical prong members of another identical fastener, the said base bardefining a retaining and compressor member for a stack of paperspositioned on the said identical fastener, the said apertures beingpositioned immediately adjacent to the prong members so that both thefirst-mentioned prong members and the identical prong members re isterwith, and pass through, the same registering punchings in a stack ofsheets of paper, and locking means mounted on the said base memberadapted to lock the said identical prong members when they are insertedin the said apertures and bent in paper-locking position against thebase bar, the off-set loop portions defining stops for preventingaccidental displacement of the locking means from the base member.

3. A file fastener assembly adapted to secure together a stack of papershaving registering perforations, which comprises interlocking identicalfile fasteners, each of which includes a base bar, the base bars havingsimilarly extending flexible prong members adapted to receive the papersto be fastened, the said prong members extending from the base barsadjacent to the ends thereof,

the said prong members being bent backwardly against their base bars toextend along the base bars to a position of reversed curvature, the saidprong members then extending substantially parallel to each other,laterally arranged, longitudinally extending means defining a top grooveand off-set bottom grooves on the base bars, the said base bars beingprovided with apertures immediately adjacent to the prong membersadapted to receive similar prong members of a similar fastener, the saidapertures being positioned sufficiently close to the prong members sothat when the prong members of a next succeeding fastener of theassembly are passed through the apertures, the prong members of bothsucceeding fasteners register with, and pass through, the sameregistering perforations in the stack of papers, the base bars of thefasteners cooperating to form upper and lower compression bars for thestack of papers received on the said prong members, and locking meansslidably mounted on the bar members for securing the prong members inbent, paper-locking position in the top groove of the upper bar, thesaid apertures in the base bar adjacent to the prong members enabling aplurality of similar fasteners to be assembled sequentially one onanother for building up a stack of sequentially interlocking fastenerscorresponding to increases in accretions of a stack of papers secured bythe resulting stack of sequentially interlocking fasteners.

4. A paper fastener assembly comprising interlocking first and secondsimilar file fasteners, each of the fasteners including a base barhaving identical off-set end portions including'projecting flexibleprong members for receiving a stack of papers to be secured havingperforations registering with the prong members, the prong members ofthe fasteners being identical, the prong members of both fastenersextending from their respective base bar adjacent to the ends thereof,the said prongs being bent backwardly against the base bar to extendinwardly along the base bar to a position of reversed curvature, thesaid prongs then extending substantially parallel to each other each ofthe base bars being provided with apertures immediately adjacent to theprong members for receiving the identical prong members of a filledidentical interlocking fastener, the said apertures being positionedsufficiently close to the prong members of the file fasteners so thatwhen the prong members of a next succeeding fastener of the assembly arepassed through the apertures, the prong members of both fastenersregister with and pass through the same registering perforations in thestack of paper, retaining members slidably mounted on the base bars, andretained thereon by the off-set end portions, the prong members of thefirst file fastener entering the apertures of the base bar of the secondfile fastener and being bent longitudinally thereon and retained by theretaining members in securing position, the base bar of the secondfastener defining a compression bar for the stack of papers secured onthe prong members of the first file fastener, the said first filefastener having its effective paper-holding capacity increased by thecapacity of the prong members of the second file fastener interlockedtherewith, and additional means coacting with the prongs of said secondfastener for binding the paper capacity of said prongs.

CLARENCE STILL LYNCH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,002,290 MacGregor Sept. 15,1911 1,396,790 Shute 1- Nov. 15, 1921 1,704,121 Carlton Mar. 5, 19291,982,272 Unger Nov. 2'7, 1934 2,105,836 Lang Jan. 18, 1938

